Temperature plate and heat dissipation device

ABSTRACT

A temperature plate includes a plate body and at least two supporters. The plate body has a first plate and a second plate, and a vacuum chamber is defined by the first plate and the second plate. The first plate has a first external surface, and the plate body is bent to form at least two bent portions with the first external surface being a compressive side, and the supporters are disposed inside the vacuum chamber and connected to an inner wall of the vacuum chamber to enhance a structural strength of the bent portions and also to improve heat conduction, wherein the temperature plate is combined with a cooling fin assembly, the cooling fin assembly is disposed on the first external surface. When the number of the bent portions are two, the configuration of the two bent portions allows the plate body to clip the cooling fin assembly.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The non-provisional patent application claims priority to U.S.provisional patent application with Ser. No. 62/350,373 filed on Jun.15, 2016. This and all other extrinsic materials discussed herein areincorporated by reference in their entirety.

This Non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) on Patent Application No(s). 201710417049.0 filed in People'sRepublic of China on Jun. 6, 2017, the entire contents of which arehereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE Field of Disclosure

The present disclosure relates to a temperature plate and a heatdissipation device. In particular, the present disclosure relates to atemperature plate with a bent structure and a heat dissipation devicehaving a cooling fin assembly clipped by the bent structure.

Related Art

In general, the temperature plate is composed by metal plates by weldingor assembling. The temperature plate has a vacuum chamber and is a highperformance heat dissipation device for rapidly transferring heat fromthe heat source to a large dissipating surface. Accordingly, the heatdissipation device adapted with the temperature plate has been widelyapplied to various high-performance commercial devices, such asdissipating heat of servers, communication apparatuses, VGA, orhigh-performance LED.

In order to enhance the heat dissipating efficiency of the temperatureplate, it is generally to bend the plate body of the temperature plate,so that the bent plate body can have a larger surface to be contactedwith the cooling fin assembly or heat source. However, when applying aforce to bend the plate body, the bent portion of the plate body usuallyhas a depression or deformation, so as to decrease contact surface.Therefore, it is desired to eliminate or decrease the depression ordeformation of the bent portion of the plate body.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

An objective of the disclosure is to provide a temperature plate thatcan prevent the depression or deformation while bending the plate bodyand can provide more conducting paths and a larger contact surface forimproving the heat dissipating efficiency.

An objective of the disclosure is to provide a heat dissipation deviceadapting the temperature plate. The heat dissipation device has acooling fin assembly disposed on the bent portion of the temperatureplate for providing more conducting paths and a larger contact surfaceso as to improve the heat dissipating efficiency.

The present disclosure provides a temperature plate including a platebody and a supporter. The plate body includes a first plate and a secondplate. A vacuum chamber is defined by the first plate and the secondplate. The first plate has a first surface away from the vacuum chamber.The plate body is bent to form at least a bent portion with the firstsurface to be a compressive side. The supporter is disposedcorresponding to the bent portion.

The present disclosure also provides a heat dissipation device includingat least a temperature plate and a cooling fin assembly. The temperatureplate includes a plate body and a supporter. The plate body includes avacuum chamber and a first surface, and the plate body is bent to format least a bent portion with the first surface to be a compressive side.The supporter is disposed corresponding to the bent portion. The coolingfin assembly is disposed on the first surface.

In one embodiment, a curvature radius of the bent portion is at leasttwice of a thickness of the bent portion. In addition, the second platehas a second surface away from the vacuum chamber, and the supporter isdisposed in the vacuum chamber or on the first surface or on the secondsurface.

In one embodiment, the plate body is formed by a single plate workpiece.

In one embodiment, the supporter is a structural enhancement member.

In one embodiment, the first plate or the second plate has a pluralityof protruding portions corresponding to the bent portion. The protrudingportions construct the supporter, and the protruding portions arealigned or misaligned to each other.

In one embodiment, one of the first plate and the second plate has aplurality of protruding portions corresponding to the bent portion, andthe other of the first plate and the second plate has a plurality ofrecess portions corresponding to the bent portion. The protrudingportions and the recess portions construct the supporter, and theprotruding portions are aligned or misaligned to the recess portions.

In one embodiment, the bent portion of the plate body clips the coolingfin assembly.

In one embodiment, the heat dissipation device further includes a heatconducting plate, and the temperature plate and the cooling fin assemblyare disposed on the heat conducting plate.

As mentioned above, in the temperature plate and the heat dissipationdevice of the disclosure, the supporter is disposed corresponding to thebent portion of the plate body of the temperature plate for enhancingthe structural strength of the bent portion. This configuration canprevent the depression or deformation of the temperature plate whenbending the temperature plate. In addition, the cooling fin assembly isdisposed at the compressive side of the bent plate body and contactedwith the first surface of the plate body, so that more conducting pathsand a larger contact surface can be provided between the outer surfaceof the temperature plate and the cooling fin assembly through the bentportion, thereby improving the heat dissipating efficiency.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure will become more fully understood from thesubsequent detailed description and accompanying drawings, which aregiven by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of thepresent disclosure, and wherein:

FIGS. 1A and 1B are an exploded view and an assembled view of a heatdissipation device according to an embodiment of the disclosure,respectively;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are different side views of the temperature plateaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIGS. 2C and 2D are perspective views of the temperature platesaccording to different aspects of the disclosure;

FIG. 2E is a sectional view of FIG. 2C along the line A-A;

FIGS. 2F and 2G are schematic diagrams showing the protruding portionsand/or recess portions of the first plate and the second plate accordingto different aspects of the disclosure, respectively; and

FIG. 3A is a perspective view of the heat dissipation device accordingto another embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 3B is a sectional view ofFIG. 3A along the broken line C-C.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the heat dissipation device according tothe other embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure will be apparent from the following detaileddescription, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings,wherein the same references relate to the same elements.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are an exploded view and an assembled view of a heatdissipation device 3 according to an embodiment of the disclosure,respectively.

Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, the heat dissipation device 3 includes atleast one temperature plate 1 and a cooling fin assembly 2, which arecooperated with and connected to each other.

The temperature plate 1 is also known as a thermal conducting plate. Inthis embodiment, the temperature plate 1 has a vacuum chamber, and has awick structure disposed on the inner wall of the vacuum chamber.Besides, a working fluid is filled into the vacuum chamber. When thebottom of the heat dissipation device 3 is contacted with a heat source,the heat energy can be conducted to the temperature plate 1 and theworking fluid inside the temperature plate 1 will be evaporated togaseous state. The gaseous state working fluid can carry the heat energythrough the wick structure and then toward outside of the temperatureplate 1, and then the heat energy can be dissipated to the environmentthrough the cooling fin assembly 2, which is connected to and contactedwith the temperature plate 1. Afterwards, the gaseous state workingfluid is cooled down and condensed to liquid state working fluid, whichwill flow back via the wick structure. Thus, the working fluid can becyclically flowing in the vacuum chamber.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are different side views of the temperature plate 1according to an embodiment of the disclosure. In this embodiment, thetemperature plate 1 includes a plate body 11, which is made of a metalmaterial having a high heat transfer coefficient. The plate body 11 canbe formed by a first plate 111 and a second plate 112, which areconnected by, for example but not limited to, welding for forming ordefining a vacuum chamber therebetween. Of course, the plate body 11 canalso be formed by folding, assembling, or bonding a single plateworkpiece, and this disclosure is not limited. The plate body 11 has afirst surface S1, and the first surface S1 of the plate body 11 iscompressed when bending the plate body 11. In other words, the firstsurface S1 is as the compressive side when bending the plate body 11 toform at least one bent portion B. In this embodiment, the plate body 11is bent to the left side (FIG. 1A) to form a bent portion B, and theplate body 11 thus has a reversed L shape. Herein, the left side is thecompressive side. To be noted, the first surface S1 can be a tensileside when bending the plate body 11, which means the plate body is bentto the opposite side, the right side, as shown in FIG. 1A. As shown inFIG. 2A, a curvature radius R of the bent portion B of the plate body 11is at least twice of a thickness t of the bent portion B (R≥2t).

In the conventional art, when applying a force to bend the plate body ofthe temperature plate, it is discovered that the bent portion of theplate body has undesired depression or deformation, which can destroythe wick structure configured on the inner wall of the plate body. Thiscan cause a non-smooth or discontinuous (wick) structure surface so asto decrease the heat dissipating efficiency of the temperature plate. Inorder to prevent the undesired depression or deformation, thetemperature plate 1 of this disclosure further includes at least onesupporter 12 disposed corresponding to the bent portion B. In thisembodiment, the supporter 12 is disposed inside the vacuum chamber ofthe temperature plate 1. The supporter 12 can be a structuralenhancement member, such as a metal unit, connecting to inner wall ofthe vacuum chamber and disposed corresponding to the bent portion B. Themetal unit can be, for example but not limited to, a copper bar (sheet)or aluminum bar (sheet), and the supporter 12 can be connected to thebent portion B by welding or assembling. The supporter 12 can be made ofthe same material as the wick structure, and this disclosure is notlimited. The supporter 12 can enhance the structural strength of thebent portion B so as to prevent the depression or deformation of theplate body 11 when bending the plate body 11 and also to improve theheat conduction.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 2B, the supporter 12 can be astructural enhancement member (e.g. a metal unit) and connected to thefirst surface S1 of the first plate 111 (at which) corresponding to thebent portion B. In another embodiment, the supporter 12 can be disposedon the second surface S2 of the second plate 112 corresponding to thebent portion B (not shown).

In some embodiments, it is also possible to enhance the structuralstrength of the bent portion B by constructing the supporter 12corresponding to the bent portion B and the adjacent part directly. Inother words, the part of the first plate 111 or the second plate 112corresponding to the bent portion B can be processed to increase thestructural strength of the bent portion B. FIGS. 2C and 2D areperspective views of the temperature plates according to differentaspects of the disclosure. As shown in FIGS. 2C and 2D, a part of thefirst plate 111 (or the second plate 112) corresponding to the bentportion B is configured with a plurality of protruding portions P orrecess portions (not shown) for constructing the supporter 12. In otherwords, the part of the first plate 111 (or the second plate 112)corresponding to and adjacent to the bent portion B can be processed togenerate a plurality of protruding portions P (or recess portions),which can enhance the structural strength of the bent portion B and theadjacent part. This configuration can prevent the undesired depressionor deformation when bending the plate body 11. In this embodiment, theprotruding portions P can be cylindrical pillars (FIG. 2C) or squarepillars (FIG. 2D) or any other suitable shape, or their combinations. Inthe embodiment of FIGS. 2C and 2D, the protruding portions P are alignedto each other. Of course, this disclosure is not limited thereto. Inother embodiments, the protruding portions P are misaligned or arrangedirregularly to each other. In addition, the part of the first plate 111and the part of the second plate 112 corresponding to and adjacent tothe bent portion B are both configured with protruding portions P (orrecess portions). This configuration can also enhance the structuralstrength of the bent portion B and the adjacent part.

FIG. 2E is a sectional view of FIG. 2C along the line A-A, and FIGS. 2Fand 2G are schematic diagrams showing the protruding portions and/orrecess portions of the first plate 111 and the second plate 112according to different aspects of the disclosure, respectively. As shownin FIGS. 2E to 2G, the protrusions of the plates are the protrudingportions, and the recesses of the plates are recess portions.

In some embodiments, one of the first plate 111 and the second plate 112has a plurality of protruding portions P corresponding to the bentportion B, and the other of the first plate 111 and the second plate 112has a plurality of recess portions G corresponding to the bent portionB. The protruding portions P and the recess portions G construct thesupporter 12, and the protruding portions P can be aligned or misalignedto the recess portions G. As shown in FIG. 2E, the part of the firstplate 111 corresponding to and adjacent to the bent portion B includes aplurality of protruding portions P, and the part of the second plate 112corresponding to and adjacent to the bent portion B includes a pluralityof recess portions G. The protruding portions P and the recess portionsG construct the supporter 12, and the protruding portions P are alignedto the recess portions G.

As shown in FIG. 2F, the part of the first plate 111 corresponding toand adjacent to the bent portion B includes a plurality of recessportions G, and the part of the second plate 112 corresponding to andadjacent to the bent portion B includes a plurality of protrudingportions P. The recess portions G and the protruding portions Pconstruct the supporter 12, and the recess portions G are aligned to theprotruding portions P.

As shown in FIG. 2G, the part of the first plate 111 corresponding toand adjacent to the bent portion B includes a plurality of protrudingportions P, and the part of the second plate 112 corresponding to andadjacent to the bent portion B includes a plurality of recess portionsG. The protruding portions P and the recess portions G construct thesupporter 12, and the protruding portions P are misaligned to the recessportions G. The above mentioned aspects of the first plates 111, secondplates 112, supporters 12, protruding portions P and recess portions Gare for illustrations only and are not for limiting the scope of thisdisclosure.

As mentioned above, in order to enhance the structural strength of thebent portion B and to prevent the depression or deformation of the bentplate body 11, the supporter 12 is provide in the vacuum chamber of theplate body 11 or on the first surface S1 of the first plate 111 or onthe second surface S2 of the second plate 112 of the plate body 11. Inaddition, the plate body 11 can be processed to form protruding portionsP and/or recess portions G corresponding to and adjacent to the bentportion B for constructing the supporter 12 to enhance the structuralstrength of the bent portion B and adjacent part, and to prevent thedepression or deformation when bending the plate body 11. Moreover,inner wall of the plate body 11 can be configured with a wick structurefor improving the heat dissipation efficiency. The wick structure can beconfigured based on the shape or trend of the protruding portions P orthe recess portions G. Thus, inner wall of the plate body 11 isconfigured with a continuous wick structure.

Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, the cooling fin assembly 2 is disposed atthe compressive side and contacted with the first surface S1 of theplate body 11. In this embodiment, the bent portion B can divide thefirst surface S1 of the plate body 11 into a plurality of regions, andthe cooling fin assembly 2 is contacted with at least two of theregions. In more detailed, the heat dissipation device 3 of theembodiment has only one bent portion B, and the first surface S1 of theplate body 11 (excluding the bent portion B) is divided into two parts,including a vertical part and a horizontal part of the plate body 11.The cooling fin assembly 2 is contacted with both of the two parts, andit may contact with a part of the bent portion B under properconditions. Accordingly, the heat transmitted to the temperature plate 1can be delivered to the cooling fin assembly 2 through first surface S1of the bent plate body 11, so that the heat energy can be dissipated toenvironment via the cooling fin assembly 2. Thus, the heat dissipationdevice 3 of the embodiment can prevent the undesired depression ordeformation while bending plate body 11 of the temperature plate 1, andcan provide more conducting paths and a larger contact surface betweenthe temperature plate 1 and the cooling fin assembly 2 via the bentportion B at the first surface S1, thereby improving the heatdissipating efficiency.

FIGS. 3A and 4 are perspective views of the heat dissipation devices 3 aand 3 b according to different embodiments of the disclosure. FIG. 3B isa sectional view of FIG. 3A along the broken line C-C.

Different from the heat dissipation device 3 of FIG. 1B, a heatdissipation device 3 a of this embodiment as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3Bincludes at least two bent portions B, so that the plate body 11 a ofthe temperature plate 1 a has a laid U shape structure. The supportingstructure 12 is disposed corresponding to the bent portion B. In moredetailed, at least two supporting structures 12 are disposed inside thevacuum chamber of the temperature plate 1 a and located corresponding tothe at least two bent portions B, respectively. Of course, the at leasttwo supporting structures 12 can also be disposed on the first surfaceor the second surface of the plate body 11 a corresponding toconfigurations of the at least two bent portions B. The configuration ofthe at least two bent portions B allows the bent plate body 11 a to clipthe cooling fin assembly 2 a. The cooling fin assembly 2 a contacts tothe inner surface of the laid U-shaped plate body 11 a. In this case,the cooling fin assembly 2 a contacts to the inner top surface and theinner bottom surface of the plate body 11 a, which are disposed adjacentto the at least two bent portions B and are both not bent, i.e., theyare flat portions. The part of the plate body 11 a between the at leasttwo bent portions B is not contacted with the cooling fin assembly 2 a.Of course, in other embodiments, the cooling fin assembly 2 a maycontact to the part of the plate body 11 a between the at least two bentportions B. In addition, the plate body 11 a may further have an openingO corresponding to the bent portions B for installing additionalcomponents, such as a fixing member or a heat pipe.

In addition, the heat dissipation device 3 a further includes a heatconducting plate 4. The heat conducting plate 4 can be made of metal orother high heat conducting material, which can be the same or differentfrom the material of the temperature plate 1 a and/or the cooling finassembly 2 a. In this embodiment, the temperature plate 1 a and thecooling fin assembly 2 a are disposed on the heat conducting plate 4.When the heat source (not shown) contacts to bottom surface of the heatconducting plate 4, the heat energy can be transferred to thetemperature plate 1 a and the cooling fin assembly 2 a via the heatconducting plate 4 and then dissipated to the environment through thetemperature plate 1 a and the cooling fin assembly 2 a. In addition, theheat conducting plate 4 may have at least a screw hole or a fasteninghole S for assembling with the external heating component.

Different from the heat dissipation device 3 a of FIG. 3A, a heatdissipation device 3 b of this embodiment as shown in FIG. 4 includestwo temperature plates 1 b and 1 c. Each of the temperature plates 1 band 1 c has two bent portions B, so that each of the plate bodies 11 band 11 c of the temperature plates 1 b and 1 c has a U shape structure.The supporting structure (not shown) is disposed corresponding to thebent portion B. In this case, four supporting structures are disposedinside the vacuum chambers of the temperature plates 1 b and 1 c and belocated corresponding to the four bent portions B. Of course, the foursupporting structures can also be disposed on the surfaces of the platebodies 11 b and 11 c corresponding to the bent portions B. The bentplate bodies 11 b and 11 c can together clip the cooling fin assembly 2b, and the cooling fin assembly 2 b contacts to inner surfaces of thelaid U-shaped plate bodies 11 b and 11 c. In this embodiment, thecooling fin assembly 2 b contacts to inner top surfaces and inner bottomsurfaces of the plate bodies 11 b and 11 c, which are disposed adjacentto the bent portions B and are not bent, i.e., they are flat portions.The parts of the plate bodies 11 b and 11 c between the bent portions Bare not contacted with the cooling fin assembly 2 b. Of course, in otherembodiments, the cooling fin assembly 2 b may contact to the parts ofthe plate bodies 11 b and 11 c between the bent portions B, and thisdisclosure is not limited. In addition, the temperature plates 1 b and 1c and the cooling fin assembly 2 b are disposed on the heat conductingplate 4. When the heat source contacts to bottom surface of the heatconducting plate 4, the heat energy can be transferred to thetemperature plates 1 b and 1 c and the cooling fin assembly 2 b via theheat conducting plate 4 and then dissipated to the environment throughthe temperature plates 1 b and 1 c and the cooling fin assembly 2 b.

The other technical features of the heat dissipation devices 3 a and 3 b(e.g. the temperature plates 1 b and 1 c and the heat conducting plate4) can be referred to the heat dissipation devices 3 in the previousembodiment, so the detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

To sum up, in the temperature plate and heat dissipation device of thedisclosure, the supporter is disposed corresponding to the bent portionof the plate body of the temperature plate for enhancing the structuralstrength of the bent portion. This configuration can prevent thedepression or deformation of the temperature plate when bending thetemperature plate. In addition, the cooling fin assembly is disposed atthe compressive side of the bent plate body and contacted with the firstsurface of the plate body, so that more conducting paths and a largercontact surface can be provided between the temperature plate and thecooling fin assembly through the bent portion, thereby improving theheat dissipating efficiency.

Although the present disclosure has been described with reference tospecific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in alimiting sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, aswell as alternative embodiments, will be apparent to persons skilled inthe art. It is, therefore, contemplated that the appended claims willcover all modifications that fall within the true scope of the presentdisclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A temperature plate, comprising: a plate bodycomprising a first plate and a second plate, wherein a vacuum chamber isdefined by the first plate and the second plate, the first plate has afirst external surface, and the plate body is bent to form at least twobent portions with the first external surface being a compressive side;and at least two supporters bent and disposed inside the vacuum chamber,located corresponding to the at least two bent portions and connected toan inner wall of the vacuum chamber to enhance a structural strength ofthe at least two bent portions and also to improve heat conduction,wherein the at least two supporters stop extending at flat portions ofthe plate body; wherein the temperature plate is combined with a coolingfin assembly, the cooling fin assembly is disposed on the first externalsurface, the configuration of the at least two bent portions allows theplate body to clip the cooling fin assembly.
 2. The temperature plate ofclaim 1, wherein a curvature radius of the bent portion is at leasttwice of a thickness of the bent portion.
 3. The temperature plate ofclaim 1, wherein the at least two supporters are metal units.
 4. Thetemperature plate of claim 1, wherein the second plate has a secondexternal surface, and the at least two supporters are between the firstexternal surface and the second external surface.
 5. The temperatureplate of claim 1, wherein the first plate and the second plate are twoplate portions of a plate workpiece, and the plate workpiece is bent toform the two plate portions.
 6. The temperature plate of claim 1,wherein the first plate or the second plate has a plurality ofprotruding portions at the bent portion, the protruding portionsconstruct the supporter, and the protruding portions are aligned ormisaligned to each other.
 7. The temperature plate of claim 1, whereinone of the first plate and the second plate has a plurality ofprotruding portions at the bent portion, the other one of the firstplate and the second plate has a plurality of recess portions at thebent portion, the protruding portions and the recess portions constructthe supporter, and the protruding portions are aligned or misaligned tothe recess portions.